1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to an adapter that allows rifle launched, muzzle mounted grenades to be accurately launched from short barreled rifles and, more particularly, to such an adapter that is simple in design so as to be reliable under battlefield conditions.
2. Description of Related Art
Rifle fired grenades provide enhanced velocity and accuracy to effectively deliver a grenade at a significantly greater distance than one hand thrown. Generally such grenades can be fired directly from the muzzle of a rifle, or fired from an attachment to the rifle, such as the M203 grenade launcher, which can be attached to an M4A1 carbine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,283, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a firearm grenade launcher that is muzzle mountable to various caliber rifles, using a hollow cylindrical adapter to fit about the front end of the rifle's muzzle and about the rifle's front sight, in order to increase the outside diameter of the muzzle to that of the inside diameter of the hollow adapter. Both the adapter's and launcher's hollow cylindrical bodies are split into arcual sections by longitudinal slots, which arcual sections can be forced together using a flexible steel hose clamp located about the periphery of the launcher's mounting section. An angularly shaped handle is provided to tighten the hose clamp, thereby compressing the launcher's arcual sections about the adapter and the adapter' accrual sections about the muzzle (of such various caliber rifles). In addition to the complexity of this split section adapter/launcher combination, a special “blank” launching cartridge is fired through the hollow adapter and launcher, and into the rear of the grenade to shoot the grenade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,831, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a particular muzzle fired grenade which is fitted directly about the rifle's muzzle and launched by firing a bullet directly into a bullet trap therein. However, such direct mounting of the grenade about the muzzle end is problematic when using relatively short barrel military rifles, that provide only a short muzzle length extending therefrom; such as, the 5.56 mm, Heckler & Koch manufactured HK416, with a D10RS (10.4 inch) barrel, or Fabrique National de Herstal manufactured SCAR-L Short (10.0 inch) barrel. In such cases, there isn't sufficient overlap between the barrel and the muzzle mounted grenade to (1) ensure the properly alignment of the grenade on target; to (2) ensure the bullet's accurate entry into the trap so as to properly trigger the grenade's fuze; and to (3) avoid any off-alignment effects caused by gas escape from sides of the muzzle flash suppressor in a non-uniform manner (as, in general, military rifles are standardly equipped with a muzzle mounted flash suppressor).
A particular muzzle mounted, “bullet trap” fired grenade of interest is the GREM, or Grenade Rifle Entry Munition, such as the “Simon” manufactured by Rafael, the Israeli Authority for Development of Weapons. The “Simon” is designed to muzzle mount directly on 5.56 mm rifles. U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,283 disclosed special “blank” firing adapter/launcher is not functional with such “bullet-trap” muzzle mounted grenade; and, is not designed for military rifles such as the HK416 and SCAR-L which do not utilize a front barrel mounted sight—the sights on the HK416 and SCAR-L are raised above the body of the rifle, i.e. there is no forward sight to secure a U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,283 type slotted adapter.
There is clearly a need in the art for a simple (i.e. reliable under battle field conditions), low cost, quick mounting muzzle adapter to lengthen short barrel military rifles to accommodate and accurately fire muzzle mounted, bullet trap type grenades from modern rifles having raised sights.